Rice price hampers cyclone aid
2008-05-09 11:01
Bangkok - Aid agencies used to desperate situations are facing an unexpected problem keeping survivors of the Myanmar cyclone alive - the cost of feeding them is soaring because rice prices are at record highs.
Up to one million people who managed to survive as Cyclone Nargis bore its deadly path through Myanmar need emergency food and aid, and some shipments of high-energy biscuits are trickling to the worst-hit areas.
But over the next six months, high rice prices will send the cost of the long term relief effort rocketing, meaning donors will have to dig deep, said UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Paul Risley.
"That wasn't a problem that we or other humanitarian agencies had a year ago, but we do now," Risley told AFP.
"It means that donors will have to provide more cash. It means that the cost of recovery operations - not only in Myanmar but around the world - has increased because of the general rise in food commodity prices."
$50m aid so far
The export cost of Thailand's staple Pathumthani Fragrant Rice was at $1 053 dollars per ton on Wednesday - up more than 150% from $410.80 this time last year, Thai Rice Exporters Association figures show.
According to a rough AFP tally, the world has so far pledged about $50m in aid as Myanmar struggles to cope with the disaster, which according to official figures left about 60 000 dead or missing when it hit overnight on Friday.
In the short term, that money will be needed for expensive goods such as helicopters and heavy-lifting equipment to ferry immediate food and medical assistance to the worst-hit regions.
Longer term, the cyclone tore through the country's key rice-growing area, and although much of the year's first crop had been harvested, there are fears that a once self-sufficient country will not be able to feed its people.
Rice farmers must get help
A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation spokesperson (FAO) in Bangkok told AFP that Myanmar's rice farmers must be given the help they need to plant their new crop in the coming months.
If fields were not drained in time or the soil not ready, it could force Myanmar to import food, pushing global rice prices even higher.
"This could contribute further to a global drain down of rice stocks," the FAO spokesperson said.
The WFP's Risley said that could have knock-on effects around the world.
"In particular for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who were hoping to purchase rice from Myanmar this year, this may force them to have to find other suppliers for the rice," he said.